Louise Russell Special Counsel

Louise is an employment lawyer specialising in employment, workplace relations and safety law.

Louise regularly advises clients on the management of the workplace relations aspects of major change projects; legal and tactical responses available to industrial action both protected and unprotected; planning for, negotiating, developing and implementing enterprise agreements; safety incident management; defending regulator safety prosecutions; strategies unions utilise to frustrate change including challenging employer compliance with consultative and dispute procedure obligations; general protection, discrimination and unfair dismissal claims and union right of entry entitlements; Fair Work Commission applications; performance management and the drafting and interpretation of employment contracts; enforcement of restraint provisions; and IR strategy and EA planning workshops.

Louise also regularly appears on behalf of clients in the FWC, Anti Discrimination tribunals and the Federal Court.

Experience

General

International coal company

Advised on the industrial relations strategy to restructure the operation and successfully remove numerous historical restrictions in workplace arrangements on how work was organised, including restrictions on the use of contractors and hours of work.

Major energy company

Undertook industrial relations risk assessment on a number of proposed Greenfield developments, assisted in the assessment of the preferred head construction contractor, drafted provisions for the contract arrangements, advised on the relationship between the programs of work and minimising the potential for industrial disruption through off site assembly and worked with site management on the construction demobilising and commissioning strategy to be utilised.

Health provider

Advised on and appeared before the FWC in protracted proceedings to enable a major change to employment conditions and work arrangements that delivered significant savings and productivity improvements.

Recognition

Career & qualifications

Qualifications

  • Bachelor or Laws, Monash University
  • Bachelor of Economics, Monash University

Memberships

  • Law Institute of Victoria

 

Insights Read more insight

Untangling the Closing Loopholes Bill

This week, the Federal Government introduced the long awaited Fair Work Legislation Amendment (Closing Loopholes) Bill 2023 (Bill).

More
Getting ready for the Secure Jobs, Better Pay Changes

The Government is moving quickly on its workplace and diversity reform agenda by introducing the Secure Jobs, Better Pay Bill 2022 (the Bill). The Bill, which significantly amends the Fair Work Act...

More
Jobs and Skills Summit – Key Proposed Outcomes

The Jobs and Skills Summit held in Canberra last week proposed a long list of reforms and other actions categorised as “immediate actions”, “areas for further work” and “complementary existing...

More